Drying of coal fines assisted by ceramic sorbents

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Abstract

It is proposed to introduce contact sorption drying as a method to reduce the moisture content in coal
fines. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of drying fine and ultra-fine coal using
porous ceramic as the moisture sorbent. The main focus of this report is to define how the air temperature,
particle size variations and mixing ratio would influence the contact between coal and ceramic for
effective moisture adsorption. Drying of coal fines assisted by ceramic sorbents proved to be a viable
concept as the ceramic was able to not only reduce the moisture content of fine coal, but of ultra-fine coal
as well. The larger surface area of smaller ceramics allowed for efficient contact and consequently higher
dewatering rates. The addition of more ceramic resulted in better contact with the wet coal and reduced
the operating time quite significantly. Improved contact between the coal and ceramic therefore proved to
be the main driving force during adsorption drying